In episode 79 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden interviews Blake Grissom, Storm Restoration Manager at New Beginnings Construction and Roofing, to discuss the mindset and strategies that make a top sales rep. Blake also delves into the importance of setting high goals, maintaining a positive mindset, and the impact of sobriety on personal and professional success.
Tune in to gain valuable insights and inspiration for your own journey in sales and personal growth.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:56] A generational storm in Charleston.
[00:06:16] Social media communication challenges.
[00:09:34] Supporting a positive community.
[00:13:14] Generational storm and work ethic.
[00:14:13] Setting goals and motivation.
[00:18:57] Setting ambitious business goals.
[00:23:42] Work-life balance.
[00:26:33] Top sales talent attributes.
[00:28:22] The power of prayer.
[00:33:48] Substance Abuse and Success.
[00:35:14] Overcoming addiction and success.
[00:40:01] Mindset and positive results.
[00:44:32] Persistence in door-to-door sales.
[00:47:05] Sales mindset and customer interactions.
[00:52:18] Coaching in the storm restoration industry.
[00:54:34] Substance abuse and support.
[00:56:06] Addiction and industry insights.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkenbaden/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialkenbaden
Blake Grissom
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bgrissom7/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blake.grissom.58
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-grissom-0993bb26b/
WEBSITES:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Blue Collar Ballers Union: https://bluecollarballersunion.com/
New Beginnings Construction: https://nbc-sc.com/
Welcome to the kitchen table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
All right, welcome back to another episode of the kitchen table podcast where business gets done. I am your host, Ken Baden, and I've got a friend of mine on the podcast today. Friend, peer, fellow blue collar baller member, Blake. Blake, what's up my brother? How are you today?
Ken Baden
Good, man. Looking good as always. Looking short, brother.
Blake Grissom
I'm trying, man. Depending on the day, man, you might catch me in. Recently, I've been a lot more, I normally do the whole suit thing, man. I've talked about that a million times, where that came from and why, because obviously I don't have to wear that. You know what I mean? I own the company. I could probably wear what I want. I prefer to present myself a certain way and look how you feel, look good, feel good. All those things kind of embody the embodiment of like what I perceive as success. And, uh, you know, just all of those things. But recently you might catch me in an underarm or shirt because I'm out there in the field, ripping and running with these boys trying to tell him what's up. Yeah, I hear that, man. Do that, man. You know, what's up, dude? For sure. So Blake is a good friend of mine, and I can say that because I feel like we've developed a friendship, but he's also a peer, we met through our blue collar baller group. And that's something that if you're interested, by the way, we must plug. But if you are an entrepreneur or in the blue collar or home service space, we do have a group that Blake and I are part of. We put on trainings once a month. We do quarterly meetups. It's a good time, man. Honestly, I think it's a ton of value. And really, even for me, who I'm often putting it on, I learn a lot. Like Blake and I got on the phone the other night, which is how this happen, right? Like, he called me, you know, he pays a lot of money to be part of a group and learn things, but we get on the phone and we get to chopping it up and exchanging ideas. And dude, there's a lot, I don't know, there's a lot of value I get from that. And I can learn from anyone and everyone always, even a guy just had a kid that I just interviewed before this podcast. Guarantee you there's something that young man has in his arsenal that I could use. And I just think it's so important to keep that at the forefront. And you mentioned that the other night, like always being open to learning. How important do you think that is as far as and by the way, to introduce Blake a little further, you know, where are you working at currently, Blake?
Ken Baden
So I'm with New Beginnings Construction out of Charleston, South Carolina.
Let's make sure we give you guys a shout out there. And that is lighting it on fire in South Carolina in the South Carolina market, you guys just had a generational storm, right?
Yeah, so we had a two, two and a half inch hail hit up here. So it was something we don't see in the Charleston market, really ever, you know, so it's been great, treated us great, been able to help out a lot of clients here.
For those of you guys who aren't in the storm restoration market, essentially, you know, best case scenario, what could happen to somebody in a market? Is that right? And like he's in a market, probably more similar to my own work. Like if that were to happen here and God willing, and I say that because it's a weird parallel where it's like, you don't want people's stuff to get destroyed, but if it were to happen here, it wouldn't be the worst thing, at least on our end, because we could help a whole lot of people and it would be great for business. Uh, and that's what happened for them, you know, once in a lifetime storm, man. So you've gone out and seize the day on that. Right. I mean, like, yeah, yeah, it's been, uh, it's been good, man.
So the storm really messed up everybody's roof. And then you got siding windows, gutters, spaceship, fencing, garage doors. I mean, you've got to name it. It's, it's been damaged out there. And, you know, kind of touch on your point. I mean, you know, it's it is a weird feeling wishing a hail storm. But, you know, when a storm happens, you want to be there to be set up for the right person with the right knowledge to be able to help that homeowner get from start to finish. I mean, these insurance companies, it's a business for them. So they're going to get out as cheap as possible. And they're not really fulfilling what they're what you signed up for in the contract. They're going to try to skirt by. So being able to have a contractor who understands all the ins and outs and kind of touching back what you were saying, you know, You were speaking with a new gentleman and there's some stuff you can learn. I mean, I think it's so key that you stay a student to the industry. I mean, I can talk to somebody that's a month in and can pick up something from them, you know, or hey, it triggers an idea to you. But staying a student to the industry, I mean, you know, there's plenty of Facebook groups you can go on and just see what everybody's talking about, you know, try to take stuff from them of what's right. You got to be careful. I mean, there's a lot of people that are gurus out there that are not preaching the right thing. just trying to stay a student to the industry is so key. These homeowners are putting their house in your hands. So the more knowledge and experience and everything that you're putting into this is only going to help the homeowner out, which only helps yourself out. So taking some time to to learn, read up on this stuff, you know, ask questions, bounce stuff off different people. I mean, don't be scared. I mean, I love it when I see these new guys on there and they're asking questions. And what I do is is try to help when I see somebody and try to reach out to them and help them. And there's a lot of people on social media that tear them apart. Like, man, you should know this. Well, like, here's the thing. This is a grown man tucking his tail between his legs and putting on Facebook in front of thousands of other guys and certain people rip them apart. And I just I don't like that whatsoever, man. I mean, they're trying to learn. They're trying to help their homeowner out. Reach out, like help them out. Like, stop. There's too many people that are tearing them apart. I just, I don't like it. We all started somewhere. I mean, I started not knowing diddly squat about anything. And then you've got to ask questions and learn what you can. And you're not going to be a top performer without asking questions and doing research and everything like that.
So that man is I just feel like social media period has created this element and this new basis for communication that like automatically hinges on sarcasm and just like general ass holiness. I don't know how else to say it. I just don't get it. It's like, it attracts that, dude. I'm just like, what? I don't know. I think our age range is like the cap where it's like, we still treat people with a certain amount of respect, but I feel like maybe some younger folks are just folks that really take advantage of the fact that they're not gonna have to encounter people face-to-face or a consequence for speaking to people a certain way. But I just, I don't get this immediate negative response. You're so right. It's so funny you say that because we have, so if you're familiar, we belong to RSRA and I'm gonna give them a straight up shout out. Adam Champagne, that's one of my mentors, Adam Bensman, AKA the Roof Strategist. He's a total stud and someone who's very close and near and dear to me and has the RSRA or Roof Solar Reform Alliance Group. premise of that is to be a part of that and pay to be a part of that but you get benefits of hey here's all these trainings but also we're part of a group that literally just keep out these. Unsavory characters that exist unfortunately but moving and solar my guys were commenting the other day about like. you know, they have these message boards, just like, let's say, what are some of those great Facebook groups that you could join if you're in the roofing, siding, windows, remodeling space? Well, one would be NTS, formally name that shingle. It's a great group. I would encourage you, if you're not getting into it, that should be a prerequisite to just about any roofers. Here are the things you need to start off with catalog. You know, I literally put that in like, hey, you should join this for all my guys. Right. But to Blake's point, like one of the main things that my guys were saying that they really like about RSRA is that they can go into the community chat board and do what we really need to do, which is ask questions. Hey, man, what's up with this shingle? Hey, man, whatever. And I've got brand new reps to season reps. Right. There's different levels of like, I've never seen this policy language before ever, not that we would ever try to interpret. policy language because we're not a PA, but like we just might see something weird to a brand new rep who's just asking what seems like a quote unquote dumb question, but he's new. I don't know. For whatever reason, that group, you don't get any of that bull crap.
People put up with that. John, John made that clear. And I really respect him for laying down the law. Like, hey, we're not here to pick on each other. We're here to help each other out. And dude, like I was saying, man, it's back to you don't know anything from the beginning and you've got to ask the questions. Like just help each other out, man. This industry has been great to me. Be great to people back and give back where you can. And John's done a great job of saying, hey, we're not putting up with that. You know, you're either here to help or you're out.
I mean, we, I mean, the guy worked his butt off to create one of the better groups are free in the probably the best I would say outside of, you know, RSRA is not free, but like, you know, a free Facebook group NTS. But you got to do that because it's like you're discouraging the very nature as to like why it exists, right? Like no one feels comfortable to go in there and say like, questions they think are silly. And dude, I see some ones in there that I want to jump on and say like, man, I've seen stuff on like, even just depending on where you're coming from, but I don't berate or crap on anybody. I saw one where somebody was talking about a commission plan, but what they didn't really understand that made it look not so great was they were like, oh, I sold at, I don't know, 20% over profit. And I'm like, oh my God, God, dude, what are you doing selling that low? First of all, who gave you permission to sell that low? My God, dude, is that what you guys are standard running on? You got to be professional and polite, man. We all start somewhere. That's why I really wanted to ask you that question, Blake. I knew you're passionate about it, but we have an opportunity with Blake to talk to somebody And, you know, we have a lot of entrepreneurs on the show. And recently I went from I don't know, man, I like to mix it up. I really do. Honestly, these conversations are easier for me than, say, We get Tommy Mello, we get, we've had Lance Bachman, we've had Andy, we've, Elliot, Andy Elliot, Ryan Stumann, you know, guys with three plus million followers and hundreds of thousands of followers and businesses they've exited for 200 plus million. Adam Bensman, you know, big, big names on the show and massive successes to, you know, I just had my brother on recently. partially just because he was in town, it was fun. But the other part is he's a union member, right? And like, the state of the union is freaking wild. The literal state of the American unions, right? The local 26, the local 10, the local five, like, it's, it's, it should be a whole show in itself. And I won't get too far into this because I don't want to get sidetracked. But like, It blows me away what's happened in these blue collar home service, like this entire space is just like. construction. It's just an entirely different landscape. Roofing stayed relatively true. But if you're listening to this, you have a unique perspective from someone like Blake, who is a top performer, and he can give you an insight into the things that the top performers do to be top performers. And one of the things that you said to me the other day, Blake, that I'd like to get your opinion or you to touch on is you just couldn't understand this idea that like, let's say you have this generational storm like you guys just had, right? And you're out, you're ripping, you're running all day, all night, you're at capacity, right? Or you're pushing it. You're right there at capacity. Like this is about as much as I can take. I'm working 12, 13, 14 hours a day. Maybe I got a little bit more in me, but man, I'm pushing it. what do you think is the difference between you and say someone hypothetically that is in that area and you and there's there's got to be plenty of them that just aren't out there ripping and running even though they're not recognizing this once-in-a-lifetime generational storm for what it is they're not putting in the work they're not They're not like and you just couldn't fathom that you just couldn't understand that and I get that by the way, I understand that like thought process, I wouldn't I'd be like I can't. I just don't get that. And I think it's number one, that thought process that comes so natural to that makes you a winner and why you're a top rep. Number two, I'd like you to expand on that like. Why do you think, you know, how do you think you got to that point? Do you think that's natural? Do you think you worked for it and expand on that concept of like, this is a generational storm and you have two kinds of folks here. You got the kinds that see it for what it is and put in the work. And that's how I got to where I was. Or you got the guys that just don't see it. How do you even think that happens? You, you know, let's, let's talk about that. Let's open that up. Like, that's an interesting dynamic. I mean, My God, you get it? This is a gold mine and you just don't take it? What do you think that is?
I think everybody has to have their why. What is your why? What drives you every day? What makes you get out of bed to go to work? I love what I do, don't get me wrong. I deal with insurance companies a pain in the butt more than some of the times. But you've got to have that why. And my why is my wife and my little one. And that gets me out of bed to go out there and try to crush this every single day. Because the harder I work, the more people I can help out, the better I'm setting myself up for the future. I mean, eventually, man, I want to get off these roofs. I mean, I'm about to be 40 years old, and that's kind of crazy to say, but eventually, I want to get off these roofs and you've got to set yourself up when you can, aka generational hailstorm, you've got to go out there and go after it and not, not give up and not come home. Like, Hey, I got a door slammed in my face. I'm going home for the day. Well, guess what? There's a hundred neighbors down the street that still need help. And another thing is they're going to be either sold by you or another person or another company, you know, And why it's hard for me to not want to go get that money. I mean, behind every single door where a storm has hit is money on the other side of that door. And you just got to set yourself up to get in front of them in different ways. You know, whether that's knocking doors, whether that's, you know, driving it through the neighborhood Facebook page or getting people to say, hey, I had an opportunity to work with Blake and here was my experience working with him. And, you know, that is definitely huge to be able to push and work neighborhoods the right way. And word of mouth is definitely bigger than them going on and looking at our reviews online, too. You know, if they're hearing from their neighbors like, hey, literally just got done with Blake. He is very knowledgeable, treating me right. He's getting this thing going. I feel comfortable. Y'all should reach out to him, too, as well. But, you know, kind of back to what you were asking, just that why is going out there. You've got to wake up every morning, If you got to have a conversation with yourself on the way out to wherever you're working at, you know, talk to yourself like, hey, this is what my goals are for the day. And guess what? I'm not stopping until I hit those goals. You do that? Say what? You do that? Talk to myself? Have the goals? Yeah, I mean, you got to have like certain goals and we even us kind of back as a company, we got certain goals that we do a bi-weekly report. So like I'll put my goals in for the week and it's all traceable and it needs to be obtainable. So we've got all that stuff and you set goals through the company and then we get reviewed every week.
Weekly into what like an app or something? I'm curious because I'm actually taking this down as a note. That's pretty cool. Is it something that or is it like a spreadsheet or?
Yeah, we've got it. We've got it built out on this form. I'll pull it up for you right now and kind of go over some of the stuff.
It's pretty cool. I mean, we do our stuff, too. We still do it the old fashioned way. I mean, we track managerial level. Uh, some of that stuff, of course, but Kevin's come up with some Google forms that are really cool on like all these different things. So that's a good, that's a cool idea having like weekly goals, but even maybe expanding on that and not even having them just only be like numbers and work, but maybe like, Hey, I want to.
Yeah. I mean, you know, the numbers are the end goal for us. Right. But like, there's other stuff here. So like, I mean, I've got my goal for the year that they've set. Luckily enough, I've already hit that goal. Let's see here, like we got profit margins where we want it set for me at the beginning of the year, my conversion rates, increased market share by working with strategic partners. That's some of the stuff that's preset at the beginning of the year. Then we've got goals set for the next meeting. So like, you know, some of my, like, I'll just go over my last meeting here was push 10 jobs into production. So as you see here, that's not necessarily for me going to sell. I need to push these jobs into production at this point to get some jobs finished out to get some final bills off to the insurance company so we can get paid. So I mean, that's, as you can see like there, I'm working on pushing stuff into production. I'm working on getting stuff closed out, you know, two, three weeks before that, it may, hey, go out here and close 15 deals, you know, and it needs to be obtainable. I set my standards so high Um, and I think if you, if you aim high and then come down a little bit, I mean, realistically, you know, at the end of the day, you sit back and think, all right, still, it wasn't bad, you know, but that's just who I am as a person. You know, everybody, I think it needs to be obtainable still. And in my mind, some of this stuff is obtainable if everything's fine on all shoulders.
Right. That's what's so important. Sorry, I just couldn't help it. Like, you know, we talked about this the other night, but I just, I feel that in my soul, man, because of where we've gone through all year. And I just want to like touch on that real quick. Like don't dismiss. I mean, because to Blake's point and myself, like if you believe it, it's as real as it needs to be. Right. Like, but you know, when you sit back and kind of look at it and break it down, when it maybe doesn't work out, for instance, and you're like, man, damn that. Yeah, that was possible. And it was, if to your point, every possible thing that could go right, did go right. But to me, like, that's what the goal should be, right? Like, what's the best case scenario? Like, I'm going to shoot for what's the best possible realistic outcome I could come up with? However unrealistic is it? Is it possible? And that's going to be my goal. And then to your point, like, and I believe that crap with everything in me. They have to, or what's the point? But if that's way the hell here, like for instance, ours as a company, and I'm telling you, everybody was in, man. Everyone was in. But it would have required, first of all, to your point, it would have required a significant weather event, didn't get it. Probably wasn't realistic to even think we would have gotten it. And of course, we ran with the numbers, and it also had like 10 or 11 million in solar, which we just completely nixed. So that takes that off the board right off the ribs, so now you're 35, 25, and that would still have been a 3, 4x over the year in 16, 24. That's pretty damn good, right? That's hard to do year over year over year. Most businesses projecting a 10 to 20% increase year over year is good. That is good. You are increasing, you are making money, you're growing as a business, especially early in your infancy. Most businesses don't make it to year five, like, but we got these goals that are just so extraordinary.
that we don't even think in the realm of like, okay, well, statistically speaking, we do 10% increase year over year, and that is good business, and everyone else does that.
We don't even think about that. It's like, nah, dude, we're going freaking 5X year over year. We're going to balloon from 10 to 30 to 60 to 100. You know what I mean? Every year, we're going for it, and we're going to buy in and do it. But to your point, if you fall short, And I just think that, I don't know, man, what do you say? You shoot for the moon, you still land on the stars or something like that. You shoot the stars, land on the moon, whatever, right? Like you shoot for the very, very top of what's possible and you fall a little short. You're probably still landing higher than most people's expectations. If you are that type of just, I don't know, winner.
You know what I mean?
That born, I'm going for it. I'm setting my goals at the top of the top as far as of what's possible. And if I fall short, at least I'm still, you know what I mean? Like, I just thought that was, I don't know. It's almost like I know that, you know, but we, us talking about that the other night, just like, yeah, you know, you're right, man. It's just, it's hard to, we want to win bad. And we want to hit those goals bad and we let it bother us when we don't. And it should bother you, but it shouldn't.
Shouldn't cost you any peace, like to the point where it's dangerous, so I don't like losing, so I want to set my goals high and I want to be. I want to be the top rep year after year after year. I mean, I do and that and that I feel like that has to be something that's this within you. You know you can't. I don't think you can build that and it has to be something that's just a goal for you that you don't like losing, you know? And I grew up playing sports and I'm competitive. So, hey, if we're going to have a competition here or there's going to be a leaderboard, guess what? I'm going to be a top up. You know, I've been blessed to be up there and I'm very thankful, but it also has a lot to do with the hard work. I mean, before the week of July 4th, I mean, I put in 95 hours. It's a lot. You can't do that every single week. You can't. You're going to tear your body down, you know. And I'm a big believer, you know, work hard but play hard, too. You know, I think taking long weekends to reset so you can come back and kill it that next week and you're completely reset. I'm a big believer in that. I don't think you can grind doing, you know, 60, 80, 90 hours every single week without taking any kind of break, you know. Treat yourself. Go out there and take a little long weekend with family or friends or whatever it may be. get away for a little bit, you know, take your mind off it, because you're going to come back so refreshed that you're going to be able to go back after. And I do that. I mean, I'll take a vacation. And the company knows. And it's what I have to do as a person. But I mean, at the same time, yes, I'm taking a vacation. Yes, I'm taking a little time off. And it's not a whole bunch, man. But it's enough time to get refreshed, come back, and go back after and kill it. And the company has absolutely no problem with that, because they know when I come back, I mean, I'm out there grinding. So I'm sorry, man, I'm getting all kind of alerts through our CRM.
All right. This is is this how many podcasts have you done now?
This is my third or fourth.
So third. I don't know, man. We got to get you on that. You got to silence those things, dude. I was going to give you a little bit more.
Hey, this is this is part of it. You know, I'm new to it. I need to need to ask questions and figure that out.
Right. So having said that, I really love this angle we're on right now where it's like, give us some insight. What makes a top rep a top rep? Right. Like what are the I got to touch on something, man, because you just said it. And we just created this new internal recruiting process. It's working really well. And it's just kind of mirroring what this other company was doing for us. But it's a lot of hard work, right? And it's not just that. I worked with them on then. It's combing through endless and countless resumes, man, and having virtual assistants to do it. But they need to be able to see, all right, well, who am I looking for, man? You know what I mean? They don't know. What's Blake? What did Blake just say? You said he's an old athlete. I look for that every single time, right? Future, past athlete. If they mentioned athletics and their resume, they've got my attention. You know what I mean? Captain of the football team, swim team, whatever. They mentioned that in their interview. Like, hell yeah, dude. I used to play, I played competitive sports for a long time. I can't tell you how much that translates. You have to have that. If you want to be a top rep and you don't have that competitive edge, you'll never be it because you don't care. Like this point isn't like losing. Right. What are some other things? And that's just a little tidbit. If you're in recruiting or if you're a rep, excuse me, or if you're a business owner and you're looking to attack, attract top sales talent. One very, very old school of thought is always find somebody who has a background as an athlete, period. The more recent, the better. They played college, whatever, great. I can teach you if you had a good attitude, good work ethic, and you're hungry like that, I can teach you the rest. What else do you think goes in, Blake, to being that cream of the crop, hot bread? What would you say are the things? Because you already mentioned a few things. You're tracking your goals. You talk to yourself in the morning. Dude, I used to do that. I've been the top rep at my office. I still do that, by the way. I still get my shower every morning and say things like, I'm a winner. I'm a leader. Today's going to be a good day. I easily attract the people that I need to achieve my goals. I'm a good man. I'm a good husband. Whatever, right? Like, I literally verbally say these things that I want. I say money's attracted to me. You mentioned something a friend told you that I'd love you to expand on, but something like, say out loud how your day is going to go. Is that where you got that from? Is that what you're currently doing? Because I used to do, as a rep, I used to say, I'm going to help somebody. I'm a great salesperson. I'm going to help somebody. I'm a great salesperson. I'm going to help somebody. And I would just be like, I'd repeat that over and over because I didn't want to have it in my head going into the house. I'm here to sell anybody. I'm going to help you. I'm going to help this person. They have a need. I would say that over and over and just work really well. Are you doing that as part of your quote unquote routine or that's something you're doing? Are you verbally saying like, this is how I want my day to go like we talked about?
Yeah, man. You know, one thing I do first thing in the morning, it's either when I'm sitting down the stairs having some coffee or if I'm on the way, you know, leaving the house, if I get ready and jump right in the truck, then that's when I'm doing this. you know, I'm a Christian, man, I'm gonna have that conversation with God every morning, pray about, you know, what my day, I want my day to look like, you know, you having that conversation with him and speaking that to existence, you know, I think that's a big key to my deal. I mean, it's I'm speaking to him, it's also coming through my mind, you know, what I want to be done that day, is speaking into existence to him. And then It's a team now that we're going after this goal and going after that wholeheartedly and not giving up. I mean, you've just prayed about it. You've asked him what you want to happen. You can't let up on your side, you can't.
That is an awesome way to look at it. I hadn't even considered it like that. I mean, I've thought about like putting it out there into the ether or the Internet, the universe or whatever, but like. You know, I also was raised Christian. I've also, you know, I'm in a 12 step program We've talked about that. And so the whole kind of idea behind that is you got to have a higher power. You know, definitely found myself less like, I don't know, obsessive about, you know, I will overanalyze everything, man. I know there's a guy, that's what I know. I know there's a guy and he's got my back and he's been, he's been there for me countless times. Having said that, that's a great perspective to be like, brother, you're putting that out there to your higher power. Like, what do you mean? You know, like it's now not just you. You're saying what, you know, and that's what the Bible actually talks about, like speaking and praying as if it's already happened. And that's a, I hadn't even considered it like that, man. That's really powerful. So thank you for sharing that because that's.
Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, I had a buddy that, you know, put that in front of me and I've been doing it ever since. I mean, you know, maybe I've had a day or two in this year, but I mean, it's something I try to do every single day when I'm leaving the house, you know. A lot of times I know what I've got to do that day. And if that's sitting behind the computer and getting these 10 jobs pushing a production, then that's what we're praying about. If it's, hey, I need to go out there and get some more clients to be able to help them out, then that's what I'm praying about. And just speaking it to having that conversation with God about that, and then actually going out there and doing the work. And then another big thing, Kenny, is me and you have these conversations about sobriety, man. I've been in this industry a long time. I have now been the 20th of this month. I hit my six years and I was not a top rep. I mean, I had it in me. Don't get me wrong, but letting my addiction kind of overpower me, that's what was winning. And until I really came true to myself, and made that decision to stop is when I finally came and started taking over and started sort of really being a, you know, a top rep out here. And, and I'm not saying that, you know, everybody needs to put a drink in or whatever it is, or, you know, but you can't, a lot of people want to do is go out there and work a little bit and get mad and be like, all right, I'm gonna go to the bar and have some drinks. You know, it was such an easy getaway. It was, but I'm trying to think who said this.
A lot of times support that. So I think it's important that we're having this conversation because it's interesting how it's like sort of like swung back around where you see a lot of guys in recovery because we we we see the memes. We see the gifts or whatever it is where it's like roof or starter pack. And it's like, you know what I mean? Like heroin addiction or former heroin addiction, whatever, dude. But hey, I get it, but it's not just roofing or even like door-to-door roofing. It's been my experience for the last 17, 18 years. Modeling sales, in-home sales, I can tell you for sure, car sales, like sales period, man, tends to, which is an archetype, those folks, for whatever reason, I don't know, man, we, there's a high possibility that there's going to be some substance abuse problems because I think by nature of just the type of folks that do sales. So important conversation we're having. So please continue James on that. I just want to make sure that, you know, we put that out there, like this is a, it was a big deal to me to create a place that was safe and comfortable and fun. and have good environment, knowing full well that like what we do attracts a lot of specific personality types. And I wanted to set the tone very early on, like, hey, we this isn't going to be Wolf of Wall Street over here, man. Right. Like we're not out here partying and all that other stuff. We can have fun, but we're not doing that. Right. We're worried about building ourselves and bettering ourselves and we can have fun a different way.
Yeah. And there's been people that brought it to light that, you know, like, hey, have you ever seen somebody that is a raging alcoholic that's extremely, you know, most people are not extremely successful doing that, you know. And I know there's people that love drinking or are highly successful, but I mean, if you probably put them all in one room and people that don't drink very heavily or drug very heavily, and then the people over here, I mean, I think you're going to have more people that are not doing it heavily or not doing it at all. There's going to be more people in this group than this group over here. Um, I mean, I think once you can either set that down or if you got a problem, right, not everybody's got a problem. There's people that go out there and have a beer too. And that's it, you know, but the people that are going out like myself, I mean, you know, you go out and shut the bar down. it's a big thing, because now you can't wake up the next day and you're struggling getting to the appointment, you're canceled on appointment, and it's just not where you need to be and you're not fulfilling and protecting your why of why you're actually out there doing this. I mean, we get one life, man. You got a core amount of, I think, solid sales years. That may be from when you're 25 to 45 ish 50 you know really and if you're messing around during those solid sales years it's and you throw half of them away you it's going to be it's going to be tough to pick that back up and get to where you need to be by the time you're ready to retire and It's been a blessing for me to be able to put that stuff down. And, you know, I had an addiction with the drinking and everything. And it's I've used that addiction to now be a top rep. You know, hey, I'm addicted to going out here and making sure this stuff happens, you know, in because I mean, what they say, once an addict, always an addict will flip that around and be an addict to the sales process. The process of the sale and just use that as the motivation and what you need to become that top rep. and really dive into that and own it, you know? But yeah, I mean, the whole getting sober thing, man, that's been the best decision of my life other than getting married to my wife. It's the best personal decision I've done for myself, right? It's been an awesome journey. I think you got to be true to yourself. These little, hey, I'll go out here and drink and then start over again. And this is kind of up and down battle. I think you 110% got to put that stuff down and then be true to yourself and never look back. My life has gotten so, so much better. I mean, my sales have gone up. I've got a wife. I mean, we've got a house. I mean, I've got the cars that I want. You know, it's not center saying I've got a whole bunch. We got two cars. But, you know, I mean, wife's got a nice car. I got a nice truck. I mean, I love it. You know, I'm happy the way that I'm growing year after year after year. And, you know, I mean, a storm's another blessing that we've had. And just trying to go out there and make it happen in me being sober and be able to wake up every day, going out there and conquering everything that I want to conquer. And I can stay up till 11 and still working on stuff instead of going out to the bar or sitting in the house, you know, having a drink or whatever it is. I'm getting everything done that I need to get done. And man, I mean, if the, the. results of where we're at in sales for the company. I mean, it shows that that, you know, you work hard and put that time and effort into it. The results are going to show in my numbers and they will.
Yeah, I. I mean, I would echo, too, that was the best, definitely one of the best decisions probably is the best decision I've ever made, which was to get sober. I mean, I wouldn't have my way for anything I had. I mean, I definitely got really, really ugly for me, but. What I wanna really make sure we don't gloss over is what you just said, which is taking that same effort and energy and applying it to something like sales or whatever. I mentioned that the other day in our sales meeting. And not everybody in the room is in recovery, but I do know that they all can understand what I was trying to get after, which was, look, we've all been there at some point, whether it's drugs, alcohol, women, whatever, right? Men, doesn't matter. At some point, we've all been young, dumb, naive, whatever, right? And we've done stupid things, but we've done whatever it took to get that thing we wanted, whatever it took, right? Whether it was 4 a.m. in the middle of the night to run and go meet a person that you really wanted to meet or, you know, walk, I don't know, several miles across town, you know, to hopefully get a fix. I mean, this is just the reality, right? With no money or steal a car to drive up to a place with no money, knowing you're just going to either get locked up or get killed or hurt, possibly hurt somebody, but you're going to get what you need to get at the level of desperation that I know I've been at. I've reached and take that and apply that energy. even a fraction of that energy or a fraction of that steadfast, like, no matter what, this is what's going to happen and watch what you can accomplish. I mean, think about it like. I think it's that thought process of what you were saying, Blake. You know, you have that natural like, man, I want to win. I don't like to lose. And this is a once in a lifetime. Just don't speak the language of losing. I don't speak it. I don't understand it. I don't understand. guys that don't want to get everything out of this life. I don't understand, but we've come from a space where it was entirely possible that we didn't have any more life or we didn't want to be around anymore. Right. I'm not saying that has to happen in order for you to be successful because I know plenty of people who are successful that never had anything like that. But I'm saying if you have and you can harness that, you can bottle up that energy, time, effort, energy that you put into doing whatever it took to get whatever you want. and just put a fraction of that into chasing a dream that's positive or sales, learning, man, like you're unstoppable. And no one but the people who understand can understand. I don't know what else to say about it, but for me, it's so frustrating because I want everyone to understand. I want everyone to get that and to learn that way and to have that level of, damn, you're right, let's go. You know what I mean? Some people get it, some people won't get it. Some people understand better than others. You and I have been in through similar backgrounds. So I feel like we speak a very similar language, but man.
It's all about mindset too. I mean, you can look at it that way, you know, as far as making this stuff happen. I mean, you think positive, do positive, get positive results. You know, I mean, I'll tell you a little story. I mean, we were coming back from, from our trip here not too long ago and a storm was rolling in. they were talking about canceling all kinds of flights and the wife was worried about it. And I'm not even going to entertain, you know, because if I've got to deal with it, when I deal with it, we'll figure it out. It's going to be okay. But guess what? We got on both flights and both flights got us back on, you know, to entertain thinking about the bad and the negative, man, throw that out the door. Think about the positive. I mean, you get your mindset to where it really needs to be at. it's going to show and use that to your sales, use that to your process. Don't think about the negative. Negative stuff's going to happen. You might have a customer that wants to walk on you for whatever reason. Okay, let them go. Go out there and get two more. Who cares? Don't harp on it. Go out there and work on getting some more customers. But sitting there and harping on it, beating yourself up about it, that's not doing anything but tearing you down from being able to go help somebody else out. So it mindset in this industry in sales is so huge. Everything's not going to go perfect. We're going to deal with on perfect customers. We're going to deal with on perfect situations, roofs that, you know, run into issues. Uh, you know, the guys may break something when they're doing it. Okay. We're going to get it fixed. It's okay. You know, just deal with a homeowner, do what's right. And then keep it moving and, and just having that mindset. So. you're going to think positive and do positive is going to really kind of take you to the next level. But sitting there harping on stuff, because I'm not used to, I used to be completely opposite, like, oh, that freaking stinks, you know, and then now you're in your head about that. And now it makes them, you know, it's all right, I'm done for the day, that stinks. But you know, realistically, you could have gone out there and got one or two more customers. Yeah, I think Adam Benzman said this too, and this may be a little bit off topic, but like, treat day is a, I don't want to say a nine to five because, you know, in the industry I'm in, we don't necessarily work just nine to five, but treating it like a nine to five, like, Hey, I'm going out here and I'm knocking doors until 7pm. I don't care what it is. And you can't clock out until that 7pm and treating it that way. And having that mindset of doing that is going to keep you from being like, all right, I'm leaving. But again, you got to be true to yourself, because I mean, especially in this industry, I mean, yes, we have owners, yes, we got managers, yes, we've got bosses that we have to do, but you're the one that has to drive yourself and almost treat it as this is your own business and go out there and make it happen. So kind of working at nine to five and having that mindset of that, you're going to do a lot better. You take a couple of days where you're leaving at 530 because one customer made you mad. You know, who cares, man? It is what it is. You don't know what's going on behind that door. I mean, you know, him and his wife could be fighting. The wife and the husband can be fighting. Somebody could have just burnt dinner. Who cares if they're rude to you at the door? There's a door right next to them that may need help. And there's money behind that door. And guess what? They might be having a bad day, and they hear about the neighbor that you just helped, and now they're going to call you because you treated them so well. And they may call you and apologize. Hey, sorry, I was so rude to you that day. I had this and that going on. It's no problem. I get it. It is what it is. And you might be able to bring that customer back. But just going out there and working a full day, and owning that and really being true to yourself to make that happen is going to show big results in it. Because I mean, I can't tell how many times like I picked a time that I'm working until and it's the last door of the day. And guess what? Bam, there's customers. And there's there's been times where I've gone out there and not gotten anything all day to the very last one I work. And then I'm in their living room, you know, chatting it up with them at eight thirty at night. And it's the last one or whatever time it may be. And it's the last one of the day, but guess what? The whole day was worth it. All those doors getting slammed in your face or people telling you no or whatever it is, it's all worth it at the end of the day. And you've got to treat every single door that you knock on as money. And you've got to treat, let's say somebody slams the door in your face and you have a bad experience with that door. Don't take that to the next door. Every door is different. You start over, have a smile. you know, when you're knocking on the door before that, that customers come to that door already have a half of a smile or a full smile on because they see you, you're going to have that. And then internally, you're already smiling. So it's going to come out as well too. So leave whatever you, whatever just happened at the last door, the last door, and then take it to the next door and to the next door. And you just got to treat every single door, uh, differently and don't bring what happened at the last door. If it was bad, And if it was good, I mean, sometimes you get on these roles where you're setting up five, seven appointments a day, and those days do not let off the gas. I don't care if you land seven jobs and you said you work until seven o'clock and it's five o'clock, you need to keep pushing because it's weird how some of those days work, man. You just can't hear no sometimes. And just keep pushing. Don't be like, hey, man, I've got a three pack or a six pack today. I'm taking it on to the house. Keep working. Be true to yourself. And when you're rolling, keep it rolling.
Make sure Andy hears this. And I love you, buddy. And you're one of our bright, shining stars. But that's a great point, man. we have our minimums, right? And it's like, all right, well, we hit our minimum and the guys are like, start sandbagging. I'm like, what is that? You know what I mean? What is that? Like, you're just getting started, right? And so that's a great point. And it's just like, someone has to set that pace and you have to have that pace internally. And then water seeks its own level and you bring up the room. But Blake, what you just said, I couldn't have said better. I mean, honestly, everything he just said, honestly, man, It's literally the 30 minute mark just now, right? Like that is the perfect way to encapsulate. And the last final big thought of this, like you just nailed it. I mean, literally you just nailed it. I could take that, chop that up and play that for my guys. If you are in sale and you can apply this to a lot of places, it doesn't have to just be sales mindset. Sales for sure is 100,000% of mindset industry period. Like it's. Your mindset is not good. If your mental is not good, it's going to be really, really, really tough, period. But to his point, we are in an industry where you've got to be able to shut it off. If you had a rough morning, if you had a rough day at home or whatever, the night before, it doesn't matter. You've got to not only be able to do it and shut it off when you go to go meet with your consumer or your customer, but you've got to be able to do that from the door before. Every single time you meet with a client, it's got to be a big smile and you've got to be able to turn it on and shut out the noise and just get right into You're going to want to do things like say positive things to yourself. Take a second, breathing techniques, meditate, get yourself readjusted, set and commit to a time. Don't sandbag it just because you hit your little two a day goal or whatever. You think that that's good, but in reality, to his point, man, I got two in my first four customers today, man, I'm good. I'm going home. That's a wave you could have rode to six. You know what I mean? And it's just that attitude that's going to keep you in the middle of the pack and not get you to the front. The guy on the front takes that knows that he's got to ride those waves, knows that. Take it when he comes and he's going to ride that all the way through to the end of the day and get his six, seven or eight or her six, seven or eight. So I couldn't say that better myself, uh, be able to shut it off. treat every single customer with a big smile and have that ability to just shake off whatever. You can't entertain negative.
This is a mindset game, 100% sales, period.
So that is Incredibly valuable information, man. Honestly, that was some of the most valuable we've gotten. If you're in a sales, I know if you're listening to this and you're in sales, take notes, please. This is the main stuff that he's giving you the game to how he mentioned, hey, I got my goals for the year and I'm already there. And it's halfway through the year. Right. So you want to know how to do it? He just gave you the game. OK, now, if you want any more information, I'm sure Blake might be kind enough to entertain. talk to you? Where could they find you, Blake?
I would say reach out to me on Facebook, shoot me a private message, throw something on my walls, anything, whatever it is, man. This industry has been great to me. I am more than happy to give back to it. We need to chop it up for 10, 15, 20 minutes. I mean, it may need to be at the end of the day or eight o'clock phone call or whatever it may be, but I will find some time for you if you need some help. I'm not sitting here saying and I'm not claiming to be a guru, but I've been around the industry for a while. I can either steer you in the right direction or tell you maybe where to go find some stuff. I would love to help give back. I mean, I think it's part of my calling and part of our duty to help each other. And especially in the storm restoration industry, you know, it's really us versus these insurance companies. And I think we need to help each other more and more because these insurance companies are only going to get tighter and tighter. Yeah, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook. Shoot me a private message. Send me a friend request and shoot me a private message.
What's your Facebook?
Blake Grissom, G-R-I-S-S-O-M.
Blake Grissom on Facebook. Just make sure you reach out to him, dude. you said you're not a guru, but first it starts with giving it back for free. And that's why like in groups, like, you know, he mentioned a couple of groups where we've got a, it's a free group. It's blue collar ballers. It is a free group. There is a private group, blue collar ballers, but the group, the Facebook group, it's a free group. And it's a bunch of blue collar folks that, you know, we need to be more active in there and giving back like that's the whole premise man honestly like i just started that literally just posting stuff of value every day like that was it and i still need to be doing that more regularly because truth be told you doing that is what I don't know man putting that out there I think it always comes back number one and number two before you could ever even think about charging for anything you gotta start giving it out there and setting a a tone for like I might know what I'm talking about and you definitely do man so give yourself more credit I've heard more valuable information from you and I think you know at least by now I'm in a few circles with a few folks that make some good money and I myself I'm a coach Brother, you just said more valuable information than some of these guys I've seen. We were just talking about it. Some of the stuff we see out there, and these guys are charging people money. They're taking people's money, and they're getting it because we need help in this industry, man. And so the more you can put out there for free, I don't know. I think it comes back, man. I really do. We got to protect each other. We got to protect the new guys and the vulnerable guys that don't know any better from some of these folks that had a good year, right? And decide that they want to go and I don't know, pretend to be something that they're not, man. I'm just, you know, some of the things I'm like, I don't know how you call yourself a coach or whatever in this industry and say what you just said, because it's just so dangerous. But I see it a lot. So we got to be able to talk about Well, I don't know his name or anything out there, but you know, it's just it's an example. He's one of them. There's a bunch of others just like it, man. So if you do, you know, we want to be in a group where you can protect and be free and it's for free. Blue Collar Ballers is a great group. Blake's in that group. He's also in the paid group. And if you're interested in that, hit us up. We'd be happy to take a look and see if we're a good fit. but jump in the free group. Jump in, name that shingle, right? NTS. There's some really great groups out there that are free and you can post your stuff and get free value. You don't have to jump right into you know, pain, right? And if from there, you want to seek something out on a deeper level, then take a look at that. But, and I say that coming from a place where like, I literally have an organization that you could come and pay to be a part of, but I would encourage you to start there. That's where I start, right? Start where it's free, get back, get to know folks who you can trust, who you can't before you go spend any money. But Blake, I love you to death, man. I really will.
Absolutely, man. I mean, I think you're onto something there too. I mean, investing in yourself and whether that's reading a book or reading, you know, trying to learn from different people and then eventually getting in these different groups and classes that you can go to. I mean, investing in yourself is good, but, you know, try to get back to the industry too. I would definitely say that. And, you know, I mean, if I threw some key takeaways, you know, here, I mean, I would say for the people that are struggling with alcohol, try to get fixed with that or drug or whatever it may be. Just be true to yourself. Give yourself three solid weeks and watch what you can do with it. And I think it's going to blow your mind. I mean, it blew my mind and I've never looked back. Work on the mindset, you know, having that mindset, the thought processes of not thinking negative and only thinking positive. And then speaking this stuff to existence. I mean, if you're a Christian, speak to God every morning about it, you know, or speak to yourself if you're not. But, you know, just taking those three things and trying to implement those into your sales processes and in your just overall everyday things that you do, it's going to show a very high return on it and give yourself three solid weeks. And I'd love to hear back from you all if somebody does that. And I'd love to hear the success that you're going to have on it.
Yeah, well, I would love to as well, man. It's a great point. Give yourself three weeks to jump in the group, DM Blake, DM myself, let us know how that's worked. If you do have any substance abuse issues, that's a great point, man. Like, reach out, DM. If we can help, we will. If it's just talking, we will, right? That's important for each other. Blake, that was fire, man. I really enjoyed this. Got to get you back on again here soon. I can't wait to see what you do with the future and we'll check back in with you. I'd say probably by the end of the beginning of the year and see where you're at and go from there, man.
How's that? Sounds great, man. I always love chatting it up with you, man.
Keep crushing it, brother. Keep rewriting your goals. I love you, my friend, and we will actually I'll see you tonight.
Sounds good, brother. Appreciate you having me on, man. And yeah, if anybody needs me for whatever it may be, sobriety, sales, roofing, anything like that, y'all feel free to reach out to me anytime. I'd love to help y'all out.
Awesome. Well, you can reach out to Blake directly on his Facebook, Blake Gressom. And look, don't forget, if you like what you hear, or you like the podcast, or the YouTube, it would be awesome and amazing because we never plug it to like, subscribe, leave a review, any review, positive would be nice. And that's how people find the show. So like, we do this with hopes that more than one or two people will watch it. But in all seriousness, like, subscribe, leave a review, help us out. If you have any comments on stuff you'd like to see, that'd be awesome. Leave a comment, right? If you're struggling, drug and alcohol addiction, in all seriousness, You can leave a comment, but if you want to DM, uh, me or Blake, or you have any questions about the industry and you're not so sure, or you're leery about spending money with someone, uh, reach out to me, reach out to Blake. And I'm happy to give you my honest opinion. Sure. He would do. Love you guys. See you next time.
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